‘UNP back-benchers will guard Yahapalana Government’

UNP back-benchers will guard the Yahapalana Government at all cost, UNP MP Bandulal Bandaragoda said while accusing former President Mahinda Rajapaksa of pulling the leg with talks of toppling the joint government.

UNP MP Bandulal was addressing the media yesterday at Sirikotha.

He said the joint government was solid and a change of regime was a pipe dream of an insignificant political group craving for power.

The Galle District MP was referring to the recent press report that some SLFP parliamentarians had demanded the removal of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe from his office, or else permission to sit with the Opposition.

MP Bandulal said Maithripala Sirisena assured at the 2015 Presidential Election campaign that in a government led by him, Ranil Wickremesinghe would be the Prime Minister.

“I would like to invite the people who say the Premier should be removed, to watch again the first press conference held by Maithripala Sirisena when he walked out of MR’s government. The people who demand the removal the Premier should ‘check their heads’.” MP Bandulal said.

MP Bandulal said talks of toppling the government could possibly be a tactic to stop foreign investments from flowing into the country. He said they may be trying to scare off with such talks the government officers who are conducting investigations into crimes and scams that took place in MR’s time.

He said most serious issues the present Good-governance Government has to deal with are the ones that the MR's regime created and left behind.

“We are still paying for the sins of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government. They left us several ‘garbage mountains’ similar to Meetotamulla and many others; the ‘mountain of debts’ is the most serious. The SAITM issue and the loss of GSP+ are other issues the government is dealing with thanks to the previous regime,” he said.

Bandulal said Rajapaksa would be trapped in his own ploy if he keeps on interfering in the Yahapalana Government.

He said the Yayapalana Government did not influence entities that are carrying out investigations. “They should be allowed to act independently. We are sure that they will carry out investigations properly and convict the lawbreakers,” he said.

The MP said the Anti-corruption Secretariat should not have been closed, but the country has institutions with similar capacity for the people to go and report on corruptions.

He said religious places should not be used for political purposes since it would destroy Buddhism in the country and the UNP never offered nominations to Bhikkus in its 60-year history.

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